He would claim to follow the Qur’an or similar statements, and he would manifest whatever would attract each group to revere him: to the Ahl al-Sunnah he appeared Sunnī, and to the Shi‘a he appeared Shi‘ī. Sometimes he wore the garb of ascetics, and at other times that of soldiers. One of his tricks was to send some of his followers into the wilderness to hide fruit and sweets. Then, accompanied by a group, he would approach that spot. If one of his followers desired fruit or candy, he would go and retrieve what had been hidden and return it, leading everyone present to believe it was a karāma (miraculous gift) of his. He kept among his retinue jinn and shayṭān (demons), and these shayṭāns sometimes served him. Once, while they were on Jabal Abī Qubays, his followers asked him for sweets. He withdrew for a moment and then returned with a platter of sweets. When the fraud was exposed, it turned out that a shayṭān had carried the sweets from a confectioner’s shop (ḥanūt ḥalawwī) in Yemen to him. Similar deceptions are common among others besides al-Ḥallāj who exhibit a demonic state, and we know many of them in our own time and in earlier eras. For example, there was a shaykh who admitted that he committed fornication with women and concubines and did not pray. He said: “A black dog with two white spots between its eyes would come to me and say, ‘So-and-so the son of so-and-so has made a vow for you and will bring it tomorrow. I have fulfilled his need on your behalf.’ In the morning, that person would arrive with the vow and hand it over to this unbelieving shaykh.” He added: “Whenever I was asked to produce a talisman (lāzīn), he would prompt me until I lost consciousness, and suddenly the talisman would be in my hand or mouth without my knowing who placed it there. I also used to see a black pillar of light before me as I walked. When I repented, began to pray and fast, and avoided indecent acts, the black dog vanished, the light disappeared, and the talismans ceased.” Another shaykh employed shayṭāns to strike certain people down with sudden fits; the afflicted persons’ companions would then plead with the shaykh for healing, unaware that it was his shayṭāns who had caused their distress. He would dispatch his jinn followers, who would remove the affliction and return the person healed, and the shaykh would receive payment in dirhams. A third man, devoted to religious learning, was seduced by shayṭāns that promised: “We will free you from prayer and bring you whatever you wish.” They delivered sweets and fruit to him until he appeared before some gnostic shaykhs, who confronted him and secured his repentance. He then returned all the sweets he had received from the demon’s persuasions to their rightful owners. Thus, anyone who departs from the Book and the Sunnah and claims to experience mystical unveilings or supernatural influence is either in a satanic condition or a state of psychological delusion—even if he shows no outward signs, merely imitating genuine mystics. In general, those who claim satanic states combine both demonic influence and erroneous imposture, as God says: “Shall I inform you upon whom the shayṭāns descend? They descend upon every lying, sinful person” (Quran 26:221–222). Al-Ḥallāj was one of the foremost of those with satanic states and delusional imposture. There are many such sects, led by the soothsayers and sorcerers venerated by the Arabs and idolaters in India, the West, and elsewhere. Some among them believe that when one of their own dies, he continues to live, speaks to them, settles their debts, returns their trusts, and instructs them by will. They insist that what appears before them is the very form he wore in life, when in fact it is a demon assuming his shape. Many who seek istighātha (intercession) from dead or living shaykhs say, “O my master so-and-so” or “O Shaykh so-and-so, fulfill such-and-such a need.” They see the form of that shaykh and address him, and he appears to promise, “I will fulfill your need,” “I will heal your heart,” or “I will drive away your enemy,” when really it is a shayṭān taking the shaykh’s likeness, a consequence of calling on others besides God. I know numerous such cases. Some even profess, “There is nothing in existence except him and none besides him,” equating the created with the Creator. Among some of my own followers are those who said they sought my help in dire straits—one feared the Armenians, another the Tatars—and each claimed that when he called on me I appeared in the air and repelled his enemy. To them I replied, “I know nothing of this.”